5/3/2005: Korea at night

[tw]

Originally Posted by glatt

Here's another image and an explanation of the lights in the water.

The fishing fleets create lights greater than or equal to the light output in cities of millions? Look at North Korea where 5 megawatts is a significant electricity. Notice the little amount of light. Look at the South Korean cities where the electric consumption is thousands of megawatts.

What ships are lightning the ocean even with 5 megawatts? If the lit ocean areas were not so large (the size of P'yongyang in N Korea), then I might appreciate that explanation. But the numbers necessary to light up such large areas just cannot be accounted for by a fishing fleet. Its just too much electricity and in multiple ocean areas that are too large. One fishing fleet lights an ocean area the size of Seoul and its suburbs? If the generators on those boats are that large, then where do they store the day's catch?

Remember, I am questioning the validity of the first photo posted by UT. Those other photos don't show all those lights offshore. And those other photos show he islands in the Korea straights properly illuminated only on land- not in the Straits.

[glatt]

I'm not a fisherman, so I don't know.

Perhaps the light in these images is a measure of light and not electricity. Perhaps much of the light from these fishing boats is being reflected up into the sky, and that isn't happening as much on the land, where dark colored pavement, dirt and vegetation absorbs much of the light from street lights.

When you shine a light from a high angle into the water, some penetrates the water, and some bounces off the surface like a mirror. Perhaps these fishing boats are, in effect, aiming their lights down into the ocean at the same time they are aiming them up into the lenses of the cameras in the satellites.